I Want to Be a VTuber-Chapter 311.1: Polaris (3)

Ju Yeonseo’s actions after the conversation were ruthless.

From that moment, what unfolded was a one-sided massacre.

The sight of Yeonseo slaughtering the fleeing researchers one by one was nothing short of spectacular.

To the staff watching, it was as if blood was splattering right before their eyes.

The actors’ screams were so harrowing.

Yeonseo’s figure looked just like the title of the work—a devil in human form.

A Majin.

"Next scene. Moving straight to the next scene. Sora, you ready?"

"Ah, yes!!"

Sora grasped the stick that she had now grown familiar with.

‘It’s a sword. A sword.’

Right now, it was just a simple stick for filming. But in the actual drama, CGI would turn it into a sword.

‘My nunchaku...’

She missed her weapon, but realistically, swinging nunchaku in a scene like this wouldn’t feel quite right.

"Going in."

Sora was a foreigner.

So, before speaking her lines, she read them once more in her head.

Checking for mistakes.

Marking where to infuse nuance and emotion.

Once that was settled, she opened her eyes.

‘Ju Seoyeon.’

Inside the burning laboratory.

In Sora’s eyes—no, in Shin Arin’s eyes now—she saw it.

The bodies of the researchers who had taken care of her.

And a girl in black, slowly walking across a floor drenched in their blood.

A familiar sight.

The very first scene where she and Seoyeon clashed in Hyper Action Star.

That scene was exactly this moment.

Most of the details were different, but °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° the finale remained intact.

The emotions, the tension—exactly the same.

They had already done their grand rehearsals in the past.

Now, it was time for the real thing.

The sharp sound of the slate echoed.

Director Han Yegun’s voice rang in her ears.

The silent filming set transformed into the laboratory.

Sora loved this fleeting moment—when reality shifted into fiction.

It was the reason she became an actress.

‘Jin Yeonseo.’

Sora’s face, light and casual moments ago, transformed into Shin Arin’s.

The eyes that had gazed at Seoyeon with reluctant admiration turned into those of a girl consumed by rage.

「Jin Yeonseo!!」

Seeing the dead researchers, Shin Arin charged at Jin Yeonseo with a twisted expression.

The next scene was like an illustration come to life.

The illusion of swords and axes was so vivid it seemed real to the crew’s eyes.

In five seconds, they exchanged blows once, then froze.

After reviewing the footage, they repeated the sequence from multiple angles.

Not a single NG.

Well, there were NGs, but they were covered up so smoothly with ad-libs that no one noticed.

Even the normally rigid Han Yegun found himself questioning—

‘Did I even plan this scene like this?’

‘No, they’re way too fast.’

‘Are they actually fighting for real?’

‘I heard they practiced at this speed too.’

The seasoned action actors could barely keep up with the rapid choreography.

『Oh, Arthur. You weren’t joking when you called them slow.』

『...Don’t lump me in with those people. Only you could keep up with that. Or Jack Robin, maybe.』

They were mentioning the biggest names in American action films.

That was how intense this scene was.

『If only she could improve her acting. The Japanese girl’s still a bit rough.』

『That’s why they leveraged Ju Seoyeon’s presence. She’s the protagonist, after all.』

As they exchanged comments, the battle between the two psychics reached its climax.

Thirty minutes of relentless filming.

When Shin Arin finally collapsed, it probably wasn’t just acting.

She had squeezed every last drop of her stamina into the scene.

A performance so immersive, they forgot they were filming.

But all those watching shared a single thought.

‘The protagonist? That’s the protagonist?’

Even knowing the story, it was hard to accept.

Whether it was the massacre at the lab or the shocking reversal when she took down Shin Arin—

Jin Yeonseo felt more like a villain than a hero.

‘She brought the script to life perfectly.’

Jo Sehee coughed and silently applauded Seoyeon’s performance.

This was it.

The moment when the audience would start resenting Jin Yeonseo.

No matter how much she was the protagonist—killing this many people...

And Shin Arin, even in the story, was a well-loved character.

If Jin Yeonseo killed someone like that, her image would shift dangerously close to the “villain” side.

‘But...’

That was intentional, wasn’t it?

Sehee quietly observed Seoyeon’s acting.

Shin Arin, collapsed on the ground, grabbed Jin Yeonseo’s ankle as she tried to walk away.

She pleaded, demanding to know why.

Yeonseo halted.

Slowly, she turned her gaze to the girl beneath her.

「Why am I doing this?」

A hollow laugh escaped Jin Yeonseo’s lips.

Her voice was different from before.

She crouched, staring at Shin Arin, who glared at her with hatred.

And she spoke—so casually, as if it were nothing.

「Then why did you do that to me?」

Shin Arin assumed she was referring to the “choice” the researchers had forced upon her.

She screamed in denial.

Yeonseo listened quietly, closing her eyes.

Jo Sehee thought her expression looked like she was holding something back.

Yeonseo, who never wavered for anyone, was reacting.

Maybe because, for a brief moment, she had considered Shin Arin a friend.

「Shin Arin, do you know why I, and other psychics like me, were created?」

Yeonseo continued.

「Why did they conduct research to awaken psychic powers in humans? What did they tell you? To surpass the limits of humanity? A noble purpose? To create a new race of superhumans?」

Shin Arin’s eyes trembled.

Yeonseo gently stroked her hair.

「Then why was it all done in secret? Why did they act as if they had a divine mission? Doesn’t it seem strange? Why do they want to kill me, to control me? There are already plenty of enhanced humans out there, so why the obsession with me?」

The reason was simple.

「Immortality.」

「...What?」

「I’m exaggerating, but in the end, they just wanted to extend their lifespan. The rich want to live longer.」

Yes, even the man who had funded the research—Hong Seha’s father—was the same.

A conglomerate head who feared death.

But when the research’s “result” escaped, along with his hopes and promises—

He tried to expose the researchers to the media for taking his money and running.

So he was killed.

It was all so disgustingly petty.

「But surprise! A child with these abilities was born.」

A body that healed instantly.

Strength surpassing human limits.

And a variety of supernatural powers.

Like a god had been born.

Because in Yeonseo, there was something—

A key to immortality.

「You psychics only accepted my genes through a serum. But I... I am the real thing.」

All psychics were just diluted copies of Jin Yeonseo.

「And yet, they rejected me. Why do you think that is? They need me, don’t they?」

「That’s...」

「Either they perfected the foundation. Or they found a replacement.」

An investor, or perhaps a way to create a new Jin Yeonseo.

That’s why they rejected her.

「So I killed them all.」

Before another “me” could be born.

「Because I couldn’t bear to see that happen again.」

Yeonseo smiled, but her lips trembled.

She tried to act composed, but the emotion in her voice betrayed her.

For the first time, the heartless demon looked human.

「I was in agony.」

Jin Yeonseo’s lips trembled as she spoke.

She acted as if she was unaffected, but the emotions in her voice made it clear. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

Slowly, the emotions she had kept buried all this time were beginning to surface.

The actors, the staff, director Han Yegun—

Even Arthur and Oliver—

And Jo Sehee.

They could all feel it.

The moment when the demon who had been nothing but ruthless suddenly showed a glimpse of her humanity.

Yeonseo tried to let out her usual mocking laugh,

tried to smirk with her usual air of arrogance.

But her expression was different this time.

As if she was struggling to express her emotions properly.

Distorted. Unfamiliar.

Seoyeon could easily imagine how her own face must look right now.

After all, she had seen it before.

‘There was a time when I was afraid of looking in the mirror.’

In the past, when Seoyeon looked at her reflection,

it was during the time when she had been trying to learn emotions.

She had watched countless videos, comparing the expressions of others to her own in the mirror.

She simply thought that was what she had to do.

The why didn’t matter.

It was just that she wanted to experience what being "normal" was.

Or maybe...

She didn’t know.

She truly didn’t know anything,

so that was the only way she could explain it.

But there was one thing she remembered clearly—

her own reflection in the mirror.

Unlike the actors she saw in dramas and movies,

unlike the people whose emotions she tried to imitate,

The expression she saw on herself—

a desperate attempt at mimicry.

Back then, she thought her emotion was sadness.

But instead of crying, she had tried to smile.

She had practiced so hard, but the result was a strange, unnatural expression.

And now, watching Jin Yeonseo,

Seeing her trying to smirk,

trying to mask her emotions behind a sneer,

For once, it felt like she wasn’t playing a role.

Seoyeon took a deep breath.

And then, slowly, as if letting the words flow out, she spoke her next line.

「They peeled the flesh off my body while I was still alive. They drained so much of my blood it could fill this entire lab. But I didn’t die.」

Jin Yeonseo was a coward.

How could she not be?

To her, the world had only ever been pain.

Before, she might not have understood that.

But now, looking back—

It was obvious.

「I said it hurt. I told them, again and again. But no one ever listened.」

「That’s not true! I...」

「Yeah. Now you know.」

Yeonseo tapped her fingers against her leg.

「But this ‘precious sample’ they created had legs.」

And she had thoughts.

She could escape.

Jin Yeonseo, who had lived as nothing more than a tool, had run away.

Because she had learned she could.

And if someone like her, who knew nothing of the world,

had been able to escape—

Then what about someone like Shin Arin?

Someone who had experienced the world,

who had only ever received her abilities through a serum?

Would they be able to stop her?

Would anyone?

「I always wondered. Why? Why me?」

Shin Arin had probably thought that question more times than she could count.